Cythera (or Kythira) was believed to be the birthplace or first landing place of Aphrodite after her emergence from the sea. It became synonymous with love, pleasure, and sensual enchantment. In poetry—from Baudelaire’s “L’Invitation au voyage” to Renaissance sonnets—it appears as a dreamlike isle of amorous fulfillment or disillusionment, embodying both the idealization and the fleeting nature of romantic and erotic experience.

Cythera, an island south of the Peloponnese, was sacred to Aphrodite, who was said to have risen from the sea nearby (hence “Cytherean” as an epithet for the goddess). It became synonymous with erotic love, beauty, and sensual pleasure. Baudelaire’s poem “L’Invitation au voyage” and Watteau’s painting The Embarkation for Cythera cemented its status as a poetic topos of amorous idealization. In verse, Cythera often contrasts with mundane reality, representing a fleeting paradise of desire.